semilunar, a. (n.)
(sɛmɪˈl(j)uːnə(r))
[ad. mod.L. sēmilūnāris, f. *sēmilūna half-moon (cf. late L. sēmilūnium); see semi- 7 a and lunar. Cf. F. semi-lunaire.]
A. adj. Half-moon-shaped; crescentic. (Cf. lunar a. 3.) a. in general use.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 17 b/1 The Knife is of the Latinistes callede ‘Culter excisorius lunatus’, in Englishe a semi-lunare cutting Knife. 1717 Phil. Trans. XXX. 556 Some exactly Square, some oblong Square, some Semi-lunar. 1774 Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772, 188 A beautiful semilunar bay. 1795 Anna Seward's Lett. (1811) IV. 102 A semilunar seat, beneath its boughs, admits four people. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times 74 It is probable that the semi⁓lunar instruments were fixed in wooden handles, and then used in cleaning skins. |
b. Zool., Bot., and Anat. (e.g. semilunar cartilage, semilunar fold, semilunar ganglion, semilunar valve: see quots.).
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. ii. 103 The Snout [sc. of the River-Whale] flat. Both the Chaps before of a Semilunar figure. 1719 Quincy Phys. Dict. (1722), Semilunar Valves, thus called from their resemblance in shape to a half moon. 1728 Chambers Cycl., Semilunar Valves..are little Valves or Membranes of a Semilunar Figure, placed in the Orifice of the Pulmonary Artery, to prevent the Relapse of the Blood into the Heart at the time of its Dilatation. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., All the species of the semi⁓lunar shells have few convolutions. 1763 Phil. Trans. LIV. 180 In the abdomen this nerve unites with the par vagum of the right side, and together form the great semi-lunar Ganglion. 1768 Pennant in Ibid. LVIII. 93 Between the toes is a strong semilunar membrane. 1831 Knox Cloquet's Anat. 133 The Semilunar Bone (os Lunatum), is smaller and less elongated than the scaphoid. Its upper surface is convex and smooth. 1839–47 Todd's Cycl. Anat. III. 84/2 The lacrymal caruncle and semilunar fold. 1840 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. (1842) 69 The semilunar bone may be known by having a crescentic concavity, and a somewhat crescentic outline. 1852 Dana Crust. i. 474 The nasal opening in males is irregularly semilunar. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man I. i. 23 In man..[the third eyelid] exists..as a mere rudiment, called the semilunar fold. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. v. 183 Two inter-articular cartilages, called semilunar, are..interposed between the cartilaginous articular surfaces of the femur and those of the tibia. |
B. n. A semilunar bone, valve, etc.
| 1893 S. Gee Auscult. & Percuss. i. iii. 50 That the closure of the aortic semilunars precedes that of the pulmonary semilunars. |